Going back to square one

How did I get to this point?

Many times in my life I have stopped to take a look at myself in the mirror or a picture or maybe my financial situation and the usual thought that pop’s into my head is, “How did it get to this point?”

It doesn’t matter what it is, if there is something you find you are lacking in it is most likely because you are overindulging in something else. Be it food, drink, spending, sleep, play or work if we do too much of any of these we will be lacking in another area of our lives. Truly our goal is balance. We are all built with an internal gyroscope to keep us afloat unfortunately the work it takes to keep our modern body and lifestyle on an even keel takes a much larger toll than the technology and mechanics does in your over the shelf gadget. Our biggest problem is we just don’t listen.

Our bodies are made up of 300 trillion cells and the fact is we take them all for granted. I think most people look at the body like we do the ocean. We are struck by its beauty or in awe of the power it possesses but the majority of us just see what’s on the surface. When you stand on a beach enjoying the view how many of us stop to contemplate the entire other world that is miraculously contained below the surface? That world below that glistening surface is self sufficient and the only impact we have on it is how we abuse it. Not so different from our bodies, the only difference is our cells rely on us to fuel the body with some basic needs like food, water and rest. How can we get it so wrong? Here is a great talk by Doug Lisle, Ph.D. explaining how we are losing the food battle and how we can turn things around. Losing Weight Without Losing Your Mind

Our bodies on a cellular level need very simple things to keep us alive. The more we listen to our bodies the greater our chances of surviving for longer, in fact thriving. The trouble is, we’ve stopped listening. The human body was designed with amazingly accurate biotechnology that tells us just by taste what is good or bad for us, or how far to push our bodies both mentally and physically and of course that sixth sense we seem to have that tells us when something just isn’t quite right. So why is our high tech body not thriving? Can we blame it on our low technological society?

If we take a look at when things started to go sideways it pretty much can be linked back to the technological revolution. When were able to create things with minimal effort. Technology has come a long way and there is no disputing that, but to this day our modern technology cannot hold a candle to mother nature. In fact, our advances are what is killing us. On one side we have marvels in technology creating automation and entertainment and leisure and convenience and on the other we have brilliant minds trying to discover cures and to protect our most valuable resources. It is time for us to be proactive not reactive.

Technology will be our demise if we can’t keep the big picture in sight. We have had the wool pulled over our eyes by the food and drug industry selling us the idea of giving us more free time. More free time? To do what? Sit in front of the television for hours or playing video games all night or maybe to be able to work an extra 10 hours a week to get that promotion? All they’ve done is turn us into over consumers who can’t put their smart phones down to maintain an actual face to face relationship. It is up to us to make that change. The industry will change eventually if the consumers do.

So how do we make changes in our own lives that contribute to our best lives? One step at a time. Figure out how to use technology to save you time in shopping for healthy products or fancy kitchen gadgets to speed up food prep or a fridge that keeps your food fresher for longer or to organize your shopping list so that it’s there for you when you pop into the grocery store. Let’s go back to the basics, back to listening to our bodies on a cellular level. When you go to put something into your body ask yourself,”is this what my body wants?” Think of your body like a high end sports car that runs on the highest quality fuels. You wouldn’t take a Ferrari and put low grade gasoline in it that will degrade its performance, so treat yourself with the same respect. Learn how to prepare food and cook food. It’s a dying skill. Something wonderful that technology has given us is a global education portal. You can find a resource to teach you how to do just about anything. I challenge you to start taking your life back one step at a time.